It seems that vegetarians live a life of constant abstinence, as St Benedict stated. Indeed, as he admits, most of us would not be able to do so. So what can vegetarians do on Good Friday or Ash Wednesday when Catholics are obliged to abstain from meat? The vegetarian Catholic can fast, but how can s/he abstain? Well, some suggestions are:

1. Recognise your thirst for God … the thirst which leads one to God.

2. Focus on your thirst for God, and try to turn away from focusing on self and on your body.

3. Pray. If you cannot pray, then try to reflect on the needs of others. Perhaps you can help someone concretely.

4. Restrict yourself to a vegetarian meal similar to what a poor person could eat and give your savings to the poor or to the protection of the environment.

5. Make your meal poorer by trying to be vegan for the day … after all, in the early Church, abstinence was not only from meat but also from eggs and milk products.

What is central is that you attempt to open your heart to God’s love and create some wider space in your life for love of your neighbour.

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In this video the Global Catholic Climate Movement states that animal agriculture remains one of the leading contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. But learning how to make small changes in our diet can make a big impact on creation.

Read more:
– Why is Fasting Important During Lent?
– Is Lent a Negative Season?

The post Catholic Vegetarian – Fasting Tips appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Fasting has to do with trusting, healing an having an open heart

Fasting and abstinence have to do with a healing of relationships, with God, with others, with creation, with self. We each need this healing badly. For we all have a tendency to gobble: we want to eat, not only with our mouth, but also with our eyes, touch, smell and ears. Our way of eating may come to mean that we want to own and dominate more and more of nature. We want to compensate for the emptiness within us through food. Gluttony is akin to consumption. As consumers, we very easily become gluttons. The way we eat shows to what extent we can distance ourselves from our fixation with self and our solitary pleasures so that we can be freer to receive and give love. Thus, fasting and abstinence are an invitation to trust God who provides for us. They are an opening of the heart to gratitude. They are an opening of the heart to God.

Through fasting we learn that we are not self-sufficient

Precisely because we have a tendency to gobble, we need to act against (agere contra) ourselves. We do this in order to repent for our sins which are all rooted in narcissistic pride so evident in so many of our consumptive patterns. We need forgiveness, and fasting and abstinence help us to recognise and present this need. In addition, through fasting and abstinence, we slowly learn that we are not self-sufficient. We really, profoundly desire God, a desire which is often buried under layers of alienation and consumption. This is why it is important that we fast in prayer: prayer, and fasting and abstinence are an expectant emptiness before God. On the one hand, we desire God; we hunger and we thirst for God. On the other hand, we feel the struggle involved in fasting because we tend to want to consume more and more. Fasting and abstinence lead to purification of this desire, to repentance and to compunction; they lead us to continuously want to change ourselves. Fasting and abstinence also bid us to be vigilant towards our thoughts, our words and our heart. They are of benefit when they are combined with love for our neighbour. They are of benefit when we seek not so much to criticise others but instead to work on ourselves. Then we are marked by love for others and love for our soul: the fulfillment of the great commandment, that of love of God and one’s neighbor.

Fasting before God is different than fasting by ourselves

We recognise that we cannot do all this on our own. Indeed, in this struggle (aptly called agonia), we are not alone. We fast before God. Fasting or abstinence by ourselves, are dangerous: they tend to become an expression of mere narcissism. True fasting is a road to humility. By making our tables poorer, we learn to live in gratitude according to the logic of gift and love. By submitting ourselves, before God, to some form of deprivation, and not just depriving ourselves of what is excessive, we learn to look beyond our ‘ego’. We learn to discover that God is indeed close to us. We learn to recognise God in the face of our brothers and sisters. Fasting, far from being a heavy weight, opens us ever more to God and to the needs of others. Abstinence means that we deprive ourselves from the rich food (both in the economic and the ecological sense) which is meat. This is done in order to curb the concupiscence of the flesh and to open the heart and mind to God.

Send us your question at hello@universeoffaith.org

Read more:
– Feeling Insecure – Love As The Greatest Security
– Prayerful Holy Week Bible Verses

The post Why Is Fasting Important During Lent? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

We all desire newness! We don’t want to be stuck in a rut nor do we want to be conditioned by the past, especially by our mistakes. We feel that our past is littered with them and our future is still pure. In this sense our future seems pristine, exciting, beckons to us. Our hope is that we can live differently; that our lives are not simply tragic; that we can be creative. It is this hope that lies behind every smile or laugh. It is this hope that makes every artistic or musical inspiration possible.

We cannot simply overcome the past

Indeed, art and music are amongst our most original creations every piece is unique and speaks of a refreshing newness. Smiles, laughs, artistic creations are all somehow the fruit of hope. Of course, we know that we cannot simply overcome the past its joys and sorrows remain present. And we also know that we cannot create anything absolutely new even in art it is always in some way true that there is nothing new under the sun. After all, all art is a transformation , marvellous and unique as it is , of matter.

The future is unknown

Perhaps, this is why, we all seem to be somewhat nostalgic we also appear to have a tendency to romanticise the past. The past seems to be ‘home’; the future is, of course, unknown. We become frightened and often succumb to the tendency to live in our memories. Or we can succumb to an opposing tendency: that of rebelling in our creativity. It may seem that we are destined either to a sweet melancholy or to a raging swirl of destructive creativity.

The newness in the birth of Christ

But perhaps that is not the case: maybe one, maybe the only, concrete experience of real newness is the birth of a child. Every child is new, unique in a way that is extraordinary. Every first smile is absolutely fresh. But even there, we quickly notice that , apart from the immense beauty of the new child , old human tendencies and faults are quickly discernible: from hard-headedness to self-centredness. It seems that there is a ‘historical’ memory of human faultiness which we cannot escape. It really seems that only God could save us!

Strengthening our hope in Christ

Well, as we celebrate the first days of the civil year, the Church celebrates Mary, the Mother of God. Her child is new in an altogether extraordinary way because he is the Son of God. And as Irenaeus the Church Father put it…
– this child brings all newness in bringing himself;
– this child brings forgiveness which is a new creation;
– he gives hope in hopeless situations,
– he brings new life forth from losses;
– he sprouts new fruit from dead branches.
We have radical hope: we are works of art not only in our own hands but in the hands of this child who treats us firmly yet tenderly.

Trusting in God that we may share the hope within us

This is why we do not need to be nostalgic we can trust that our home is not in the past but in the present and in the future: our home is not somewhere but in the person of this child who is ‘God with us’. This is why we do not need to be violently creative we can trust that this child is creative in a way that we can never be, and we can trust that he is faithful. This is why we need never be sweetly despondent: we have a future and it is pure and loving creativity. It is open to us to the extent that we trust him. It is this relationship on which all new hope is founded.

Read more from Fr Mark Sultana:

• Vacation or staycation? The role of rest and leisure in our life
• What are we living for? Why does humanity exist?
• Finding Time for God
• Carnivor, vegeterian, vegan, fast foods. Any insights from the faith regarding what to eat?
• The fact that Jesus did not sin, can we say that he was fully human?
• If Christ said “Do this in memory of me” why does the Church teach that there is the real presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine?
• Why does the Church keep maintaining that the inclination of homosexuality must be seen as an “objective disorder”?

The post New Year Christian Message on Newness and Hope appeared first on Universe of Faith.

 “One person is precious more than the whole of the universe

Human persons are not simply part of humanity; every human person is always more! We can also zoom out in this regard: no human person is simply part of the universe, every human person is always more! That is: you are more precious than the whole universe! And that is true for every human being. That sounds paradoxical; after all each of us is, of course, part of the universe too.  Also, if I am precious, it seems that I must be precious to someone. Now, that is true of my parents, my siblings, my friends. They try to treat me with respect, they love me and cherish me, and I attempt to do the same in their regard. But I never say to myself: ‘My mother is more precious than the entire universe’! I rather say that the love I have for my mother is unique she is completely irreplaceable and so am I. But that is scarcely enough what could we mean by ‘unique’? What do we mean by ‘human dignity’, after all?

“I exist because I am loved for myself, not for what I can do

And this brings us to what we mean by ‘soul’. My human soul is not part of me but it is my relatedness, primarily with God. And this ‘relatedness’ is personal and completely unique. That is, my existence means that God wants me and wants me for myself. I exist because I am loved for myself, not because of what I can do or say, but simply because my creator – the Lord God wants to love me irrevocably. And this is true for every human person; God does not love humanity in general; God loves every human being personally and uniquely. And neither can I love humanity in general; I can love my mother, my father, my friend personally and uniquely. So the real question of “what are we living for” is really, ‘why do I exist?’

“Every person reflects something of who God is like goodness, knowledge, beauty, love..

This brings us to another point each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. That is, each of us is a unique participation in what it is to be God. And this is why we have such immense capacities, why we have infinite wishes and desires. Each of us reflects, through his or her existence, a unique light on God’s existence, goodness, beauty, knowledge, love. Each of us is a unique mirror on what God is personally like so that we can see that whole of humanity , throughout the ages, as a kind of immense reflecting telescope on what God is personally like.

“Our uniqueness shows God as one, our relatedness shows God as trinity

And God is certainly unique; God can only be one! So each of us, through his or her uniqueness, shows what it is like for God to be one. God is always greater so no one of us can exhaust what this means – neither can the whole of humanity do so. But each of us is a unique take on God. The Lord God is also related – God is Trinity. So each of us, through his or her relationships, is called forth to uniquely show part of what the relationships within God are like.

“Facing our weak reality

Now, we know that our reality is not so idyllic. We face grave difficulties. We know that we are tarnished mirrors. Not only, but we tend to be narcissistic in that the mirror that we are is facing inwards. This is what we mean when we speak of the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, gluttony, envy, anger and acedia. We cast shadows with our presence.

“The more we turn to God, the more we feel encouraged

The Lord God, our creator, continues to call us to look outward through the love that the Lord God shows us in so many ways and all the time. The Lord God calls us to turn the mirrors of our lives towards Him. We are scared to do so but the Lord God reassures us. As we slowly turn our gaze towards the Lord God, we receive the light of sanctification — beautiful light. And that light enkindles and encourages our hearts. And we are made more and more capable to relate beautifully and with true goodness and transparency, with purity and self-gift.

“When I allow myself to be fully loved, I become love

So the answer to the question: ‘why are we alive?’ or rather ‘why do I exist?’ is to receive love from God my creator. I am created to be loved by God. The Lord God loves me in creating me, in walking alongside me, in being always closer to me than I am to myself and in transforming me into a more beautiful image of Godself. The Lord God loves me through thick and thin: even in my doubts, even in my suffering. The Lord God enables me never to lose joy. Even when I am in pain and suffering, the Lord God grants me a deep peace which is joy. And when I allow myself to be fully loved, I become love. And I am created to give and receive love from all persons around me and also, to relate well to all creatures around me. I exist in order to relate well and beautifully. I exist in order to receive and to give joy and peace. And this is also what we mean by ‘vocation’.

Read more:
– Feeling Insecure – Love As The Greatest Security
– The Poor Boy Who Became A Successful Entrepreneur And A Happy Husband

The post Why Are We Alive? Why Does the Human Race Exist? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

The origins of the word “leisure”

It is interesting to note that the term ‘workaholic’ was only coined in 1948. A year later, Josef Pieper penned his Leisure, the Basis of Culture, in which he called for an urgent reclaiming of human dignity in the face of increasingly compulsive activity. Pieper traces the notion of ‘leisure’ to its roots and illustrates that the Greek word for ‘leisure’ became the Latin scola, which in turn gave us the word ‘school‘ , our institutions of learning were once intended as centres of ‘leisure’ and contemplative activity. Sadly, they are far from being so nowadays; even they have become places to prepare us to produce more and more efficiently.

Pieper writes: “The original meaning of the concept of ‘leisure’ has practically been forgotten in today’s leisure-less culture of ‘total work’: in order to win our way to a real understanding of leisure, we must confront the contradiction that rises from our overemphasis on the world of work.”

Pope Francis’ way of resting and leisure

Pope Francis recently told of his way of resting , a method that has been dubbed ‘staycation’. Basically, for the past forty odd years, he has taken rest without ever going on vacation. He does change his routine by waking up a little later than normal, praying, listening to music and reading classics. He also enjoys spending time with the poor. He confesses that experiencing such a slower rhythm for some time, which included a longer time dedicated to personal contact with the poor, energised him so that he felt fresh and reinvigorated.

The importance of planning a restful holiday

Perhaps we can learn from him the true meaning of leisure. For, unfortunately, even our holidays are often paradigms of stress. If we were to look closely at the way we approach them, we would see that we tend to reproduce, in our holiday plans, the kind of compulsive patterns we endure in our work: there is so much we simply have to do and see! We pack our vacation-time so that it becomes an endless series of experiences and sights to be used in later ‘interesting conversations’.

Being “at leisure”

Maybe the root problem is that we have become unable to be at leisure due to a perpetual restlessness which afflicts us continuously. Perhaps, behind our frenetic pace, a certain anxiety has seized us and is driving us forth. The old term acedia , loosely translated as ‘listless despondency’ , expressed this sad tendency. The opposing state is what we all deeply desire and it is what we mean by ‘leisure’.

Leisure definition

Hence, leisure is a basic attitude (or what Pieper calls ‘a condition of the soul’). In this sense, leisure is a certain inner absence of anxiety and preoccupation, it is peace, an ability to let go, a capacity to be quiet, a form of yearning stillness, a disposition of contemplative beholding, a recognition of the mysterious character of the world, and an ability to trust. It is the condition which makes possible any creative impulse; it is the necessary disposition for love. Leisure is the attitude of gratitude; the experience of a joyful soul. It is not a mere break from work. It is the ability to be in contact with the personal and life-giving presences and facets of reality that can renew us and from which we can live, even in the midst of the busy world of work.

How can we have the attitude of leisure in our lives?

Well, the key question is whether we could nurture some kind of rhythm in our daily, weekly and monthly lives whereby we could cultivate such a contemplative disposition. We need to help ourselves look at reality , whether it is nature or whether it is the story of our lives , with grateful eyes. We need to ask ourselves whether we could dedicate some time to do so alone, and also to do so with some significant others? Even if we were to dedicate ten minutes a day, that would make a difference. The same goes for a weekly, a monthly; and a yearly rhythm. We need to find some substantial time , maybe a couple of hours weekly; maybe one morning or afternoon monthly; and maybe one week yearly , to dedicate to such ‘leisure’, after all this is what Sundays and feast-days were partly about!

The difference between leisure and idleness

This is different from idleness, which is a kind of sadness and which is often the very fruit of activism. Idleness involves a lack of energy to be gratefully and trustingly responsible. Leisure means learning again and again to listen, to be grateful, to give and to receive, to enjoy, and to experience peace. Through such a rhythm of leisure , which importantly includes prayer and contact with the poor , we can cultivate this condition of our soul.

Leisure enables us to become more and more human. We truly desire this state of soul!

Published: July 2017

Read more:
– Dr Sandra Dalton-Smith On Sacred Rest
– Unrealistic Expectations Of Others And Of Self

The post Vacation or Staycation? The Importance of Rest & Leisure in Our Life appeared first on Universe of Faith.

Jesus Had A Body Like Each One Of Us

Jesus is the Son of God who became human, he is, and remains, the second person of the divine Trinity who has personally and irrevokably become one of us. The incarnation means that he is fully human in that he has a human mind, a human will, human memory and, of course, has a human body … just like each one of us! The difference lies in sin. Jesus did not sin personally.  He certainly was tempted just as we are tempted, however, as we see in the bible verse Heb 4, 15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet he did not sin. … temptations were clearly put before Him many times. In this way he understands our weakness … he both sympathises and empathises with us in our temptations. It seems clear that to be human means to be tempted!

To Be Human Is Not Necessarily To Be Sinful

However, it also seems clear that to be human is not necessarily to be sinful. Sin is a lack of humanity!! My sinfulness is my lack of solidarity, my lack of respect, my turning in upon myself in my relationships with God, with others and with creation. Unfortunately, we all seem to be in the same boat so our involvement in our relationships is always prone to deceit, egoism and envy.

He Became Human To Share His Divine, Joyful, Loving, Immortal Life

The incredibly good news of the incarnation is that Jesus is not like that at all! Not only, but he wants to share his purity with us so that we are always encouraged in the relationships which make up our lives … we are never in a dead-end, there is always hope for us. Not only, but he takes our sins upon himself so that, as it were, he, the guiltless one, makes himself guilty. He alone can enter into such selfless and effective solidarity with every human person! Not only, but he became human to share his divine, joyful, loving and immortal life with us. But that is another story …

Send us your question on hello@universeoffaith.org

Read more:
– The Difference Jesus Makes In My Life
– Top Popes’ Quotes About Following Jesus Christ

The post Is Jesus Fully Human? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

One must keep in mind that, in Jesus’ Hebrew mindset, to remember is far more than recalling an event; it is a re-presentation of a past event so that it is really lived in the present. When, for example, the Passover is celebrated, it is those who celebrate who are freed, not just their ancestors. The Greek word term used in the Gospel is ‘anamnesis’, which means ‘re-experience’. Jesus is not asking His disciples to merely use symbols to meditate on his death. He is asking his disciples to re-experience the paschal event itself, using the sacraments of His Body and Blood given for us.

We can also notice how the word remember is used later in the crucifixion account in Luke’s Gospel: when one of those crucified with Jesus asked Jesus to “remember me when you come into your kingdom he was not merely asking Jesus to “think about him as we might remember people whom we met in class last spring. He was asking Jesus to remember him in in the sense that he could really be present in heaven with him. Indeed this is how Jesus understands ‘remembering’: he responds, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise (see Luke 23:42-43).

In this light, when we remember Jesus at the Eucharist, we are not simply recalling past events; liturgical remembering makes us present to the event. The living and real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is also made very clear by Jesus in John 6, 53-56 where Jesus speaks in a very literal manner of “eating the flesh of the Son of Man and “drinking his blood . It is significant that the context is one where Jesus had every opportunity to provide a softer or metaphorical interpretation of what he could have meant by himself being “the living bread that came down from heaven . Instead, he intensifies his language by emphasises the realism of his words. Jesus rather scandalously stated that one must eat (he uses trogein which is a very graphic and almost crude term which has none of the possible nuances of phagein) the flesh of the Son of Man. It is very hard to give a symbolic or metaphorical meaning to these words. Indeed it is very hard to give anything but a realist interpretation to Jesus’ words. When Jesus used the words ‘This is my body’ (which are practically the same words as those Jesus uses in John 6, 51), he was not speaking poetically; he was effecting a creative act that brings about his “real, true and, substantial presence .

Send us your question on hello@universeoffaith.org

Read more:
– The Difference Jesus Makes In My Life
– Top Popes’ Quotes About Following Jesus Christ

The post If Jesus Said "Do This In Memory Of Me" Why Does the Church Teach That There is the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

The need for food and the meaning it expresses

Food expresses relationships , biological and social, personal and festive. Food is both a need and a symbolic gesture. We can eat in so many ways , hurriedly or sedately, alone, in a crowd, or in an intimate setting; we can eat raw food or food produced by slow cooking. We can eat healthily or badly.

Food touches both the body and the soul

Food touches our body, our life and our spirit … it touches us personally. Incidentally, this is why fasting is undertaken as a spiritual exercise and this is also why eating disorders often have spiritual roots. What to eat is, in this sense, a moral and even a spiritual matter. One is of course not to eat too much , that would be unhealthy and a wasteful use of resources; it also coarsens the soul. With respect to fast food, one should consider questions like the wage and the working conditions of the workers, together with the sourcing of the ingredients. In Lent 2015, a fast from fast food was suggested in the US.

A concern for what goes on from farm to kitchen

The Church teaches that we can include meat in our diet. While we must care for animals and treat them humanely, this does not mean that animals cannot be eaten. What we must not do is cause animals needless suffering and death. This means that we must reflect on the means by which meat is obtained. Are animals raised for meat treated well or are they the victims of industrial use? Do the production methods of any given meat-provider reflect a “religious respect for the integrity of creation (CCC 2415-2418)? Is too much arable land which would yield grain and produce to feed people being used instead to grow cattle feed , or used to produce biofuel? Ultimately, we must apply the principles of good stewardship when making decisions about what to eat and how to live.

Send us your question on hello@universeoffaith.org

Read more:
– Prayer To Help Me Lose Weight
– Top Pope Francis’ Quotes On Food

The post How Are Food and Faith Related? appeared first on Universe of Faith.

My life, your life depends on God … We live, breathe, work, sing in God. Your most fundamental relationship is with God … always, at every moment in your hectic life. Do seek God with all your heart … thirst for God, or rather acknowledge that the most fundamental thirst in your life is for God.

You need to become aware of God … that you are precious in God’s eyes and that God looks at you with love … always. I guess it is often more difficult to allow God to love me than it is for me to love God! You will come to realise that God’s love for you is always greater! To become aware of this beautiful gaze bearing your life:

Pray for yourself

Dedicate five minutes to prayer every day … just plan your prayer time. You can pray wherever you are. You can pray in so many ways … just being silent in God’s presence; praising God; pleading with God …

Attempt to listen to God

Just be aware that you are in the presence of God and try to ask God how God is looking at you. With time you realise that God’s gaze is always one of love … even if you feel ashamed about something.

With time you realise that God speaks

You start to become aware of what God is saying through an attentive awareness of the peace present … or absent within you as you decide, talk, act. If you are seeking God, peace of heart is a sign that what you are thinking agrees with what God wants.

Pray for others, and pray with others

Pray for others … that is a form of love. Pray with others, particularly through the liturgy – particularly the mass – which is our praise to God in the name of all humanity and our receiving God’s gifts … not just for us but intended for all. The peace and joy God gives is not just for me but for all those I meet. I realise that I am called to be the locus of God’s healing presence. I pray that I may realise that Jesus loves me and gave himself up for me. And that is no small thing … it gives me joy and courage continuously.

Recognise that belief and unbelief live together in your soul

Do pray: Lord help my unbelief!! But never lose courage … the good Lord will never let you go no matter how messy your life is. Do ask for forgiveness … you need it as I do!

I believe that you will slowly realise that, despite the mess and the confusion in your hectic life, you will experience more peace … and you will be able to bring a gift of peace with you.

Read more:
– Catholic Prayers for Strength
– Daily Prayers

The post Finding Time for God appeared first on Universe of Faith.